GlobalFoundries site clearing should be soon

Although the closing on the sale of 222 acres in Malta at the Luther Forest Technology Campus has been in the final stages now for the last couple of weeks, officials with GlobalFoundries Inc. said again today the deal could be done any day now.

The deal will also set in motion a number of events, including the awarding of the first contract to clear the site for a $4.2 billion computer chip factory.

In fact, right around the time the sale occurs, GlobalFoundries will send its official commitment letter to the state of New York, making it eligible for $650 million in cash incentives for chip fab construction and research and development activities.

Around the same time, GlobalFoundries will make the announcement that it has hired a general contractor. Although not official yet, it’s largely expected that M+W Zander, which built Albany NanoTech, will be given the nod.

Then M+W Zander will award the first contract to clear the site, and crews from that firm should be on the ground clearing trees and moving dirt pretty soon after that.

GlobalFoundries officials, including CEO Doug Grose, were in Malta today talking with writers and editors from technology trade publications who flew into Albany from around the world.

They were telling the visitors that initial site clearing is imminent.

“We’re about to start clearing the site,” said Terry Caudell, who is project manager for what’s being called Fab 2. GlobalFoundries’ other manufacturing site, known as Fab 1, is located in Dresden, Germany.